GUI strategy?

[Kris]

That sounds interesting! Make it fully skinnable (so it can look like the 
native platform), and you'll have yourself a jolly audience :)

Besides, Cairo is teh shizzle ;p

Any screenshots so far?



"Jordan Miner" <jminer2613 at students.pcci.edu> wrote in message 
news:fdm1ig$110n$1 at digitalmars.com...
>I have been writing a GUI library from scratch in D for over a year now. Of 
>course, I would like it to become the most popular GUI for D (who 
>wouldn't?), but regardless I have had fun working on it and using it for my 
>own programs.
>
> Here is what I think about the current GUI libraries:
> My problem with DFL is that since it uses native Windows controls and 
> copies Windows Forms so much IMO it would be difficult to get working 
> right on Linux and Macintosh. Other than that, I think it works great on 
> Windows.
> As far as GTKD and DUI, I would never in a million years consider using 
> GTK, as it looks horrible on Windows (and probably Macintosh).
> Does DWT have a different API on each platform? If so, that rules it out 
> for me.
> With wxD, since wxWidgets uses native controls, it looks good on every 
> platform most of the time and already works on Windows, Linux, and 
> Macintosh. I don't really like its API, but if I were not writing my own 
> library, I would probably use wxD.
> Note that I have never used any of these libraries, but I have looked at 
> documentation and examples. And I have used programs that use their 
> underlying libraries (GTK, SWT, wxWidgets).
>
> For my library, I decided to not use native controls, partly to make it 
> easier to port and use on different platforms and partly for flexiblity. I 
> already have working Windows and X backends, and partially implemented 
> buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, list boxes, tabs, text boxes, themes, 
> file and directory dialogs, and clipboard support. For graphics, I am 
> using the cairo graphics library http://cairographics.org
>
> My biggest goal is ease of use and the ability to do tasks with the 
> shortest, simplest code. I do not want a large, bloated library, and, so 
> far, the GUI part is only about 5,000 LOC. I believe 20,000 LOC for a GUI 
> library is more than enough. (for most features, anyway. There are lots of 
> features a GUI library could have that would be nice, but not necessary, 
> such as an SVG renderer.)
>
> Bill Baxter Wrote:
>> If you're going to make THE gui for D (or any language), then you'd
>> better be prepared to embark on a 5-10 year, or perhaps even life-long
>> project.  You'll need to make frequent releases.  And you better respond
>> to people's questions.  Not just this week but for the next 5-10 years.
>>   And have a bug tracker and use it.  And treat people's patches as
>> precious, either telling them why you're rejecting them or incorporating
>> them ASAP.  And write lots of documentation and tutorials and example
>> programs demonstrating your library.
>
> I agree. All of this is important for a widely used library.
>
> I cannot see myself stopping work on this project, as I am fairly addicted 
> to using computers, and this is something that I really like doing. I do 
> work on it in my spare time and am in college, but I have still done a lot 
> in the last year. I have not released it yet, but when I do, I would like 
> to get other people involved. I still have a few things to do before I put 
> it on the internet, such as get the Windows and X backend to have the same 
> functionality, fix the naming convention, move to tango, and get a final 
> name.
> (How's Daimyo? It is short and starts with a D. 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimyo )
>